The Flaming Qiviuts

Let's all just cross our fingers and hope for the best!

Game/Geek stores in Savannah

We went on vacation to Savannah, Georgia last week and found a lot of fun game / geeky stores to check out. There was a few places for everyone. Kris and I got some new board games, minis, and TTRPGs. VJ got a lot of fun anime stuff. Wes even got a new board game and proceeded to kick my ass in it. 🙂 The last three (Planet Fun, Nerdheim, and Pop Vault) are all about 100 yards away from each other in downtown).

  • Morningstar Games
    • 30 W Montgomery Cross Rd – Suite B, Savannah, GA
    • https://www.morningstarsav.com/
    • Large selection of board games and super friendly staff
    • Nice play area
  • Savannah Lion Games
  • Roll the Bones
    • 7400 Abercorn Street Suite 704, Savannah, GA
    • https://www.facebook.com/RTBgameshop
    • Smaller, but very diverse selection of board games.
    • Good selection of TTRPGs.
    • Lots of table space
    • Very inclusive vibes here. 🙂
  • Planet Fun
    • 127 E Broughton St, Savannah, GA
    • https://www.facebook.com/planetfuntoys
    • Lots of vintage toys and games
    • If you are looking for older D&D books/modules, they have a great selection (if a little pricey)
  • Nerdheim
  • Pop Vault
    • 128 E Broughton St, Savannah, GA
    • https://popvaultstore.com/
    • Lots of cool anime, some miniatures, and D&D
    • Nice selection of older video games and consoles
    • They have a lot of imported snacks to get and try out

The Magic of Seattle

TFQ has started a new Mage game set in Seattle. So far it’s been going pretty well. Only one party member has died. Vampires. Cyborgs. Ungodly creatures from beyond. Woohoo!

Dungeon Crawl Classics

We started a new campaign a few weeks ago. We ran through the classic funnel “The Portal Under the Stars”. Everyone started with 4 characters and almost everyone lost at least one. Matt lost 3/4 of his. I bought a stamp to commemorate the death of each character. It was a hit. The characters that did make it through made it to first level. It was a great day

Stamp entitled "Official Seal of the Ministry of Death"
Cause of Death Stamp

The next session we played “Sailors on a Starless Sea” It was also designed to be a funnel, but was easy enough to run for level one characters. The most of the party made it through ok, but we did get to use the stamp again. 😀 The gang did miss some of the items due to skipping some of the encounters, but still came out ok.

I can’t wait to run them through next adventure.

And we’re back!

Some dumbass decided to update his gaming group’s website… and lost a few entries. And maybe trashed the forums (sorry Emily). I am working on getting the data from the old forum for the end users.

The good news is that we will be staring a DCC campaign in 2 weeks. I am super excited about this. I am hoping that my players will be too.

I have updated the calendar functions and will be adding in game days, etc. there.

It’s been a while

It’s been quite some time since I (or anyone) has posted anything here.

TFQ is still going. We had a period of little to no gaming, but we are back at it.

We recently included some new players and have been working through some Pathfinder adventures. Adam and Rocco, and my coworker Matt have joined us. Right now I am about half way running them through the classic RPGA adventure “A Night at Sharky’s Bar & Grill”.

My friend Troy has been playing Dungeon Crawl Classics for a while. The more I have read about it, the more I want to play it. After talking with him about it, I got some free material and ordered the Quick Start Guide and Intro Adventures. Totally worth the $5 if you want to try out the system. There are also some free adventures from Free RPGA Day available on their site. Based on D20 system, it really gives you an ‘old school’ feel to gaming. You have to roll up your characters. 3d6. That’s it. No point buy. No 4d6 and dropping the lowest. Just straight rolls for ability. In order. You start off with a 0 level character who doesn’t have a class and if you’re lucky 4 hit points (+Con bonus). Each player starts with 3-4 characters, because they are going to die. It is a good system to knock down those power gamer & min-maxers. You just can’t do it (without cheating). I am really looking forward to running a few sessions of this soon.

On a side note; you do need some funky dice that aren’t in the basic sets you’re prolly used too. But there are some rolls to get around this. 🙂

Hunter: The Reckoning

For those of you who are in my Utah group, I will be starting a new H:TR story this coming August. It has been hard to have regular gaming sessions, but next year I will be freeing up a lot of time time to work on storylines. I am going to retire from teaching to work on my writings. I miss my players and will enjoy having more free time to be with you guys. So hold on, and after the end of spring 2019, The Utah Saints will be much more regular.

Vanderbilt Gaming – 2017

It’s vacation time again. And that means gaming at Vanderbilt.
So far we have:
1. Pathfinder mid-level game (10th level)
2. Star Wars: Age of Rebellion Beginner Box
3. Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures
4. Other board/card games.

Mage: The Ascension… with a Victorian twist

For the last 18 months or so, I have been working on a Mage game based in the Victorian era. Actually, I came up with the idea long before that while talking one night with Erik.
With the exception of some minor details, it’s done. I have a story that should last for a good number of sessions, with a pretty good flow. Having played in some games where the characters decided to ‘break the game’ (trip to Australia anyone?), I have tried to build in some flexibility while keeping the characters on a scripted course.
Now I just need to get my players to embrace another system and make some characters. And buy more d10s.

Getting back to basics

Tomorrow night I will be running a very special adventure for our group (at least starting it, as it will take a few sessions to finish). With the temporary loss of one of our main players, we decided to suspend our Kingmaker AP and have some different games to fill in until his return (sorta… via internet).

I am going to be running a BD&D module. The very first TSR module I ever played when I was a kid. B2: The Keep on the Borderlands. I remember playing it at my friend Rick’s house. Bill was our DM and I was playing a fighter. I think Rick was a magic-user. I know there were some other kids there, but I can’t recall their names. I do remember that Bill got parts of the module mixed up and the encounters we had in the Keep were supposed to be out in the caves.

Little did I know that this was going to open the door to a life-long hobby. My parents had bought me a D&D boxed set for my birthday and I loved making characters and designing maps and dungeons on graph paper. But this was my first real game with friends. Decades later and I’m still playing, making maps, making memories. I mostly DM at this point (although Erik will run a game occasionally to let me play), but I really do enjoy doing it.

My brother-in-law-in-law is going to teach/run us through a 5th edition game in the next few weeks. The game has evolved so much over the decades, but I love all the editions (even 4th) and all of the other RPGs I have played through the years. D&D (8 editions), Pathfinder, Mage/Werewolf/Vampire/Hunter/etc, All Flesh Must be Eaten, Starwars, Stargate, Lord of the Rings, and the list goes on.

I can’t wait for tomorrow night. I want to introduce them to what got me started. Time to read it through one more time.

Pathfinder Beginner Box & introducing a new generation to gaming

I had bought the Beginner Box for Pathfinder a few years ago and really liked the content. It had a choose your own adventure style opening where you learned some of the basics of playing, the Hero’s Handbook that showed you how to make the four basic classes and how to play, and the Game Master’s Guide to teach you how to run games. It also included a set of dice, pawns (cardboard minis) and some pre-made characters if you just wanted to jump right in. It reminded me of the boxed sets that I had got as a kid when I was first getting into D&D. My wife, some friends, and I played through the small adventure that came with it, but then it went on the shelf as we went back to the regular Pathfinder RPG.

Years later I would get it out and dust it off to introduce a new generation of gamers to RPGs. Since it came out Paizo has added more content that is free to download from their site. My daughter is still a little to young to play, but one of the players has a son that the Core Pathfinder rules are a bit complex for. It gave me an idea to start a bi-weekly kids game. So he and his father made Beginner Box characters. Then I got a cousin and his son interested and they had their first game yesterday and loved it. Hopefully next week we can get both groups together to play and make one unified team. It really made my day as a GM to have the guys come up with really good ideas on how to do things.

I remember as a kid that a lot of people looked at D&D like it was a gateway to Satan worship. My grandmother would buy me the books because she wanted to encourage me to read and use my imagination, but after news shows like 60 Minutes said I would kill people she wasn’t so sure. My mother, however, knew better and continued to buy me books, dice, miniatures, and everything I wanted to play. I would play with kids from school and when they weren’t available, I would coerce my brother and dad to play too. Side note: I found my old characters from when I was a kid the other day and in there were my brother and father’s characters. It hit me hard, but then I had an overwhelming sense of how much they loved me because they were willing to play this game with me as a kid.

Through the decades, I have made many good friends playing D&D, Pathfinder, Mage, and many other table top games. I used to joke that D&D brought my wife and I together (and it sorta did). We used to host a weekly game night where it might be Pathfinder, Munchkin, Zombie Dice, or some other game where we could just hang out as friends and enjoy the adventure and just have fun together. I am glad that we are doing that again.

Enough of my rambling and reminiscing. If you want to introduce your kids to RPGs, the Beginner Box is a good way to do it. Wizards has also come out with D&D 5th edition which also has a starter set (although the BB comes with a lot more in the box).

For those of you who say “why would I let my kids get into this?”, I would just have you read below what cartoonist/comic writer Scott Kurtz posted years ago about it:

5 Reasons Your Kids Should Play Dungeons and Dragons.
Encouraging your children to imagine.

After writing a week of strips about the classic pen and paper role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, I’ve received many emails. Some of you are my age, and also have nostalgic memories of sitting at a kitchen table and walking a party of brave adventurers through countless dangers. Many of you have been inspired to start up new campaigns with old friends. A lot of you are finding out about Dungeons and Dragons for the first time.

TSR, the company that has produced Dungeons and Dragons for the last 25 years is still going strong and making new D&D products as we speak. I want to encourage all the kids out there who read PvP to at least give pencil and paper RPG’s a shot. There’s something about them that can’t be replicated by watching a movie or playing a computer game, I don’t care how good your 3D card is. You can go to a local game or comic shop and pick up a Dungeons and Dragons basic set for much cheaper than a new PC game will cost you.

In the past, Dungeons and Dragons has taken a beating from fanatical parental and church groups who’s insecurities and inability to provide a balanced environment of responsibility and entertainment for their child required them to find a suitable scapegoat. Currently these nimrods can be found placing the blame for their non involvement in their children’s lives on television, movies and computer games.

Five Reasons Your Kid Should Play D&D.

1. It Encourages Teamwork.
In Dungeons and Dragons, players take on the roles of adventures with their own special strengths and weaknesses. To complete their tasks, your kids are going to have to figure out how to combine their character’s unique abilities with that of their teammates to solve puzzles, defeat villains and complete quests.

2. It Encourages Reading.
D&D is a pen and paper game. It doesn’t install on a computer or play on a VCR. Your children are actually going to sit down and crack open a book. And they’re going to enjoy it because the history, stories and game mechanics are interesting and engaging. Don’t be surprised if after playing D&D for a while, they suddenly find an interest in reading fantasy novels. TSR offers a wide range of incredible fantasy novels based off many of their campaign sets. I recommend the Dragonlance series myself.

3. It Encourages Positive Social Interaction.
D&D encourages your kids to interact face to face in your home with their friends, rather than anonymously with strangers over the internet. I understand that if you place two or more teenagers in a room and leave them there for an hour there’s bound to be a conflict. But working through those conflicts and learning to interact with their peers is going to teach them communication skills they’re going to use later on as adults.

4. It Stimulates Imaginations and Encourages Creative Expression.
After living out the stories created by the Dungeon Master, kids want to write their own stories and adventures. The beautiful illustrations in the D&D books and modules inspire many budding artists to do their own illustrations and paintings (and cartoons). I know one budding artist who used to spend too much time drawing his character portrait and not enough time paying attention to the game.

5. It’s Something You Can Do With Your Kids
You heard me. You can play Dungeons and Dragons with your kids and have a good time with them. It’s a great opportunity for you to communicate and role-play with them. I guarantee that if you play Dungeons and Dragons with your child, you’ll learn something about them that you didn’t know before. It also gives you an opportunity to get to know their friends and social circles. Plus it makes you the cool parent in the neighborhood. Trust me on that one.